Netflix has had star ratings for much of our history, but we've learned through over a year of testing that while we've used stars to help you personalize your suggestions, many of our members are confused about what they do.

That's because we've all gotten used to star ratings on e-commerce and review apps, where rating contributes to an overall average, and the star rating shown next to a restaurant or a pair of shoes is an average of all the reviewers. On those apps, being a reviewer can be fun and helpful to others, but the primary goal isn't always to help you get better suggestions.

In contrast, when people see thumbs, they know that they are used to teach the system about their tastes with the goal of finding more great content. That's why when we tested replacing stars with thumbs we saw an astounding 200% increase in ratings activity.

That 200% increase in ratings activity, according to the company, should lead to more accurate recommendations, since an increasing number of Netflix's near-100 million user base is going to be participating in the program, improving the algorithm for everyone.

I don't like it. I thought the world was moving away from segregating me into a binary lifestyle. Boy, Girl. Like, dislike. I want to identify as a non-binary furry-fairy-kin and rate my shows 2,3, or even 4 stars dammit!

I absolutely HATE the new system. I used the 5 star rating to jog my memory a couple of ways. One, did I watch it already? The stars tell me. Two, I loved being reminded how much I liked or disliked a show. When I (rarely) gave a 5 star rating, I was flagging it for rewatching in the future. Now, all my ratings are gone and I have to start all over. PLEASE change it back. My watching will go down without the 5 star ratings.

i think this is a step backwards actually. i can't tell you how many times i use a streaming app that only has a thumbs up or thumbs down option and i think "why don't they have a multi-tiered ratings system?!"...ie i might think something is okay but not great...and i could rate it a 3 out of 5 in that case. but if i totally loved a song/show/movie, i could rate it a 5. Netflix you could do that with their stars. Now it's just a "yay" or "nay"? Why this is a step backwards.
Or am i missing something here?!

I think this change was all about getting more participation in the rating system by making it easy, but, this undermines the accuracy. I would rather have a smaller pool of feedback based on the star system than the masses with yea or nay.

You're missing the purpose of the rating. Netflix doesn't care what your rating is of the show. They want to know "Is this a show you would want on your recommendation list?" If it is, then upvote it and you'll see more like it. If it's not something you want on your recommendation list, downvote it and you'll see fewer shows like it. The example you gave (3 out of 5 stars) is a perfect illustration of the problem that Netflix is trying to fix. You were rating the quality of the show, but that's not the information that Netflix wanted.

Maybe I'm giving too much credit to their algorithm but I always got the impression it DID factor in your rating.

It could see which types of shows/movies I loved vs ones I thought were okay, and make them more prominent in the list, while still including those lower ratings in there. It was what made Netflix so easy to just fire up and find something new to enjoy.

Now it can't, it has to treat everything I like equally and thus making it harder to find stuff I will really love. This will no doubt lead me to voting down things I actually liked, just because I didn't like them enough to want similar things to swamp my list.

If people are too stupid to use a star based rating system, their opinion should be null and void. Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. But still, seems like an unnecessary change. It's easier to tell at a glance with stars, than to look at the number of up-votes vs down-votes and compare the two numbers. Easier to rate, harder to examine the rating. So now I'll be the stupid one...

Since it's not showing you "number of up-votes vs down-votes", you should be happy. It's showing you a % prediction of how likely the Netflix algorithm thinks you'll like it. The up/down votes of other people will have nothing to do with the % rating shown to you. That's 100% based on your viewing history and your up/down vote history.

However, they don't put %'s next every title. For example, only about 10% have a %, 10% say new, and 80% have nothing. From visual point-of-view the star system is a much quicker way of getting bearing on show. IMO.

I'm not happy about this change. Binary state is too simplistic. The masses will up-vote nonsense entertainment, typically associated with mass-produced junk, and therefore recommendations will be biased.

But if you down-vote a few of those mass-produced garbage shows, then you should see fewer and fewer recommendations for them, regardless of what the masses are doing.
That's the whole point of personalized recommendations.

The stars system didn't show you what the masses thought about a show. It showed you what a specific group of people that their algorithm thought were like you thought about a show. But because few people were participating in the stars ratings, the algorithm had a very hard time figuring out what group you belonged in. They are hoping that simplifying the rating system will dramatically increase participation, which should then place people into far more accurate groups, in which case recommendation accuracy goes up.

Go back and read the article or watch the video again. You didn't get it. The XX% match shown by Netflix tells you how likely YOU are to enjoy it based on YOUR viewing and rating history. That has nothing to do with "the masses". With the new system, a 4-star rated show means the same thing that 4 stars means on every other star-based indicator. Public opinion. The % indicator is the prediction of your opinion.

But how is the new system going to know when I watch a show if I thought it was passable, good or brilliant? I just don't see how its going to be able to recommend anything to me any more.

The new system is going to actively force me to downvote things that I enjoyed but didn't love, just to try and prevent my recommendations being filled with stuff I would only tolerate rather than absolutely adore, stupid.

Does Amy Schumer not realize that all her special would have gotten would have been a resounding Thumbs Down as opposed to her whining about 1 out of 5 stars. I tried and I mean TRIED to watch it. It wasn't funny in the least bit. She spent a good chunk of time talking about how her junk smells...

Agreed. This now means stuff I thought was okay but not good or excellent will need to be downvoted the same as stuff I thought was terrible, just to avoid them recommending them equally to stuff I love. What a horribly gimped system this is.

I've actually had to explain to people a lot that the star system was Netflix's guess about how you'd feel. And yeah, it never made sense to me. Honestly, I don't want Netflix to tell me what it thinks I'll like. Often, it's wrong. Just show me what people like, not what you think I'll like. That being said, this system is better as a recommendation system than stars, I do agree there.

Seriously? I thought it was pretty obvious it was all intended for you to teach Netflix your likes/dislikes.

Its going to be pretty useless if I can now only like or dislike things, as it will recommend stuff I thought was "okay" equally to stuff I thought was "excellent". This completely gimps their recommendation system.